


Cat and Mouse

by OhioWolf94



Category: Fright Night (2011)
Genre: Gen, Vampire Turning, charley/ed if you squint at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:34:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24873907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhioWolf94/pseuds/OhioWolf94
Summary: Charley escapes from Jerry out in the desert. Charley doesn't stand a chance in an outright fight, so he attempts the old 'pray curiosity wins over anger' technique.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

It’s not hard, living in Vegas, not normally. Sure, most of the people that move there come and go sooner than other towns, but some people stay, some hang around. Some become famous, most don’t.

Sometimes, it sucks. Like when a neighbor is a bloodsucker. Not a lawyer, no, a literal blood drinking vampire. Charley stared out Peter’s penthouse window, Jerry should be awake by now, he promised he’d bring him something from Peter’s, what was it, oh yeah, some weird book about ancient civilizations.

1 month earlier

“You shouldn’t have been so nosey.” Jerry held a stake over his chest and grinned. “I know. A game, a test. You win, and you all go free. I win…” Charley didn’t need him to say it, he didn’t want him to say it. He also didn’t want to play a game, but hey, what choice did he really have at this point?

Jerry looked around, there wasn’t anything close, nothing the boy could really use to his benefit…good. “How about this? You broke into my home, stole my food…”

“Doris.”

“…As I was saying, stole my food. Now, I think that I deserve something, don’t you.”

“You’re a monster. You killed my friend.” He wasn’t stupid, Ed was dead, he knew too much and this thing killed him.

“What can we do?” Jerry clicked his tongue, “I know.” Grabbing Charley by the shirt he yanked him up, slamming him into the truck behind him. “Run.”

“No.” Charley wasn’t stupid, Jerry’d kill him the second he turned his back on him.

He shook his head, “It wasn’t a request. You run, or…” Jerry tossed Charley down, he was standing up when he heard Amy scream.

“No!”

“You run, or I kill her, and your mom, wouldn’t want that would you Charley?” His mom was lying on the ground, still out cold. She’d fainted after seeing Jerry rip out that man’s throat, to be fair, that would do that to most people, and she hit her head on the ground. Amy pulled her back to kinda safety, but it wasn’t like they were really safe with Jerry running around.

He stood there, unable to really move. Jerry had Amy by the throat, she tried kicking him but it was like she was fighting a tree, he didn’t even seem fazed. “All right, all right, just let her go. I’ll do it. Just, let her go.” He already lost one friend, technically two counting Adam, to Jerry, he didn’t want to lose Amy too.

“Be a good girl, and stay.” Jerry shoved Amy into the vehicle and onto the ground. “Don’t get any ideas.” He looked up to Charley, his eyes full black, “Now, run. If you make it to sunrise, I’ll let you all go. If not, well, I don’t think I need to explain do I?”

Sunrise? It was barely sunset, Charley looked at the phone in his pocket, just a hair after 9:30 pm, he didn’t have a chance!!

“How long before you chase me?” He wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t just going to run and Jerry let him go, this was cat and mouse. Jerry just wanted to play with him, but it might buy Amy and his mom some time, he doubted that he’d make it though.

The vampire leaned back against the truck, looking at the sky, “When my shadow reaches the back of my truck.” What? Charley looked down and saw Jerry’s shadow was about a foot away from the truck tire.

“An hour?” How the hell should he know how fast the moon moves?!

“Closer to thirty minutes, maybe, I’d start running now if I were you.” 30 minutes or an hour, either way, that was a long time to leave Jerry alone with his mom and girlfriend. He looked down at Amy who looked back and forth between him and Jerry, clearly trying to figure out how to get out of this situation…preferably alive. 

Charley backed up and gave Amy a second look, maybe if he ran and kept going Jerry would go after him. He seemed more intent on killing him than he was on hurting Amy or his mom, that was both a good thing and a bad thing.

He turned and took off. Truthfully, Charley expected Jerry to attack him from behind, just wait for him to turn his back and grab him and kill him, but that didn’t happen.

Now, vampires or no, running in the dark through a desert is dangerous. There are snakes, scorpions, rocks, and more that can hurt you, and can kill you if you can’t see them. Charley had his phone but didn’t dare turn on the light because it would give him away. Not that he thought he could actually hide, but turning a light on in the perpetual darkness wouldn’t do him any favors. If Jerry wanted a chase, Charley could play along. With any luck by the time Jerry would find him his mom would be awake…Charley remembered vaguely that she could hotwire a car, something she said she learned in her college years. Hopefully she hadn’t forgotten because he doubted Jerry was going to leave them the keys when he chased after Charley…saying he didn’t just kill them after Charley ran away.

He couldn’t think like that. It might be true and it might not, but it wouldn’t help him to think about it. Rock! Charley stumbled and grabbed onto the somewhat upright surface in front of him, some kind of rock. Alright, he needed light of some sort.

He tucked his cell phone under his shirt and turned on the flashlight, it wasn’t much, but he could see the rock in front of him. Now, to find somewhere Jerry wouldn’t look, or at least wouldn’t look for a while.

It wasn’t a cave, but it was a rock outcropping of sorts. Charley held his shirt out, still nervous to have a bright light out and about. The rock was low to the ground, an easy place for rattlesnakes to hide under, but, given the situation and that he wasn’t hearing anything, it seemed as good a place as any.

There wasn’t much of a hole, but he fit, alright, he squeezed. After squeezing he felt a rock down by his feet, a nudge and squish and soon enough it was blocking the hole. Not like it would stop Jerry, but it might slow him down an extra minute. It was completely pitch black. Charley refused to think about anything that might be residing in there with him because most likely the most dangerous thing was outside hunting him as he laid there.

It was quiet. No wind, no animals. Charley refused to move, he wasn’t going to open his phone, he wasn’t going to do anything that might give away his position any sooner than necessary. How long was this going to take?

Footsteps. Charley opened his eyes, not that he could tell they were open. Footsteps and whistling coming from down by his feet, slowing moving in the darkness. They stopped right in front of the rocks he was under and continued above his head.

There was no way Jerry didn’t know he was there, so what was he doing? Footsteps returned, this time approaching from his head. He heard something scrape a rock outside and Charley thought Jerry was going to move his rock. This was it.

But, it grew silent. Nothing for a few moments, and then the footsteps went away, in the direction of his feet.

Charley waited, expecting them to return any second, for Jerry to stop his playing and kill him already. Seconds turned to minutes.

Charley didn’t hear anything, but he wasn’t stupid enough to go outside. He still had hours before sunrise and he wasn’t giving up. Maybe, just maybe, his mom and Amy might get away, that was his prayer at that moment.

If Jerry wanted to play a sick game of cat and mouse Charley would make him work for his ‘mouse’ that was for sure. He wiggled his legs, trying to get circulation back, being cramped under some rocks was not comfortable in the slightest.

He opened his eyes, how long had he been asleep? It wasn’t pitch black under the rock! A tiny sliver of light was peeking in down by his feet, where that one rock was just resting. But, that meant it was day!

Charley took his foot and after wiggling a few moments got the rock wiggled back enough to start the awkward process of crawling out of his makeshift cave. He wouldn’t give it a high rating on hotels.com but it still served its purpose.

He covered his eyes and looked around. It was very different in the daytime. A few sets of footprints all went the one direction, as much as it went against Charley’s instincts to go where Jerry had been, he knew that was the direction of the road, and that Jerry couldn’t physically be out anyway since it was daytime.

He didn’t have to walk too far. Apparently stumbling around at night you don’t walk as fast as during the day, who would have thought. Amy and his mom were still there!

“Mom!” Charley yelled, running the rest of the way to the road. The two women were sitting down by a rock just off to the side of the road until they saw Charley.

Jane jumped up, grabbing the rock before taking a couple of steps. “You’re alive!” Charley grabbed her in a tight hug, he thought they were dead. They were alive and breathing, and everything that comes with alive, and not dead.

Charley looked over at Amy, who just stared at him for a second before saying, “He said you were buried alive.”

“What?” Charley released his mom, looking back and forth between them. “Why would he say that?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. Jerry came back last night about to kill us, furious about something. But…”

“The sick freak just started laughing!” Jane shook her head, “It was worse than anything else he did. I didn’t know what was about to happen.”

“He just let us go and drove off.” Amy looked around, “We expected him to return before dawn, and it wasn’t like there was any place to go really. But…”

“No Jerry. And conveniently, no other vehicles. Love the desert.” Jane sighed and looked around, “Want to start walking?”

There was another vehicle, finally, and they did get a ride. Jane told the two teens to leave the talking to her. A car accident, that was all that happened. No cell signal to cal help, the other person drove off and left them stranded in the desert.

It worked, and they got the ride back into town. Amy got out of the vehicle and did a quick look around. “I need to go home. My parents are going to flip.”

“If they want to know, have them call me.” Jane added, “I’ll give the same story as the car driver.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Brewster.” Amy turned to Charley, who was just sitting on the bench at the gas station. He looked horrible. Apparently he spent the night under a rock, which had to hurt. “Hey,” He looked up, “Did you hear me?”

He nodded, “Yeah, just, just thinking.” He stood up and gave Amy a quick peck on the cheek, “I am so happy you’re alright.” Charley didn’t want to tell them what he thought actually happened. Why did Jerry tell them he was buried alive, that still made no sense whatsoever?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait for updates. My summer college has been busy and so has work. Enjoy :)

“I’m sorry bout your house.” Charley heard that same sentence at least a hundred times in the last couple nights. They’d been staying at his aunt and uncles in a different area outside Vegas. It was nice to get out of that neighborhood for a while, and the good news was the homeowners insurance was going to rebuild a house, the bad news was that it was going to be in the same spot as the old one, of course.

Charley had been texting Amy, she was how he was getting to school since he wasn’t anywhere near his old house. But, she said people were still disappearing, not as fast, but…

Jerry was still hunting people, he seemed to have changed his hunting techniques. Maybe having a neighbor find out about him made him change his mind about something, how should he know.

Peter Vincent texted him back, unfortunately, Charley had been in the desert and under a rock at that time. He tried calling him back the next day but he didn’t answer, then.

Charley’s phone rang, it had been 2 days since then. “Hello.”

“Charley?” It was Vincent!

“Uh, yeah. I didn’t think you were going to call me back.” He didn’t either, what with the man seeming to hate him after their little talk they had and the fact that he was a celebrity and all that, in his own way.

“I didn’t think you survived truthfully, you seemed like you were going to go in headfirst.”

He did, head first under a rock. “Yeah, long story.”

“You still want to know what I can tell you?” The magician sounded drunk, but from what Charley had seen that was pretty typical.

He looked over, his uncle Roger was currently fighting with a moth, one of many that kept getting into their home. They didn’t have even the tiniest of clues about what was hunting in the Vegas suburbs, “Yes. When can I come over?”

Peter sat in a leather chair, he was wearing pajama pants. Not anything like last time, he also looked like he had a hangover from hell.

Questions were asked, and Charley doubted that Vincent completely took him seriously still. Amy helped, a little. Having a second first-hand account of a creature blowing up his house and chasing them down on the highway and then proceeding to hunt him down…kinda, was helpful. It also sounded exceptionally crazy when Charley heard someone else say what happened out loud and he was beginning to feel nervous about this whole thing.

“Look, you can’t kill it. They are a strong breed.” Peter stood up, he looked so tired just then, “I can give you a couple things to protect yourself, but only in a last resort. Promise, you won’t try to hunt it down.”

What?! “He is killing people! You expect me to just sit here and, and, and do nothing?!” He looked around, motioning to the vast assortment of things of supernatural origin. “You can’t collect this stuff without having some clue as to how to stop him.” Something, anything would be useful.

Peter stepped closer, “I survived one, years ago.” Charley stopped, he didn’t know that. “I was a kid, my parents were slaughtered like animals…I hid. I was eight years old.” He looked around, “None of this would have helped me, I didn’t know how to use it. Neither do you, you are a kid, not a hunter.”

The kid had guts, but he was not a hunter, he was a teenage kid that was in way over his head. “I’ll give you some holy water. If attacked, use it and run like hell.”

That wasn’t nearly as helpful as Charley hoped it would be. Amy drove them through town, taking a mild detour to see what Charley’s old house looked like. In the full light of day, it looked even worse than at night.

“How are they going to rebuild?” She asked, pulling her bug up to the curb.

Charley looked out at the rubble, “I don’t know.”

He looked over at Jerry’s…did the front door just close? Charley stared for a second, it was daytime, Jerry was in bed, or a coffin, or wherever he slept during the day. “We should go.” He didn’t want to be anywhere near there when Jerry awoke, maybe his mom could sell their house after it was rebuilt.

He was so glad when he got the call from his dad. He didn’t talk to him much, not since his parents separated, but every now and then he’d call and they’d catch up some. After the last week, a tiny amount of normalcy felt good.

“How’s he doing?” Jane asked as he hung up the call.

Charley shrugged, “Same thing as always, Angie is annoying him and work is driving him crazy.” He could almost quote what his dad would say before he’d say it, and Charley gave an extremely abridged version of events to his dad about the last week.

“A rental, until our house is done.” Jane looked around at the rental, it was in the same neighborhood as their old house, the good news Charley would be closer to his school. The bad news was that put them back near Jerry. Maybe they wouldn’t cross paths, they were a couple blocks away.

Charley didn’t think his luck could physically get any worse. Not only was he running late and not getting home till after dark, but it was starting to rain. In Vegas, in the middle of the desert, it picked a night when he was running late to rain. He hated his life.

Only a couple more blocks and he’d be home. Charley stopped dead. Jerry’s house was just up ahead. On one hand, he could have walked a different path and been home without going that way, but it took longer. He was already wet and miserable, what were the chances that he’d see Jerry anyway?

“Hey guy.” Charley stopped. He really hated his life right now.

Charley turned and looked behind him, Jerry stood just a few feet behind, arms crossed looking him up and down. Charley didn’t know what was going on in his head, and frankly he didn’t want to know or find out he just wanted to go home.

“You were buried alive.” Jerry said, for the first time Charley saw him look confused and possibly worried. “You…you were under a boulder.”

True. That was true. “I hid.” He gulped, “I won.”

“You did.” Jerry chuckled. “You did, that was sure.” He looked up, rain dripping on Jerry’s face, “Now get out of here before I change my mind.” Jerry glared at him before turning and walking back to his own house.

“He didn’t hurt you?” Jane rushed around the rental, what do you do when your son just had a run-in with the undead? “He didn’t hurt you?”

“You asked me that already.” Charley took his shoes off, grateful to be out of the rain. “He just…he seemed shocked that I was alive. I think he really thought I buried myself alive somehow.”

That night went by quickly, and before Charley knew it he was at school the next day telling Amy about what happened. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“You sound just like my mom.” Charley joked, “No, he didn’t. I don’t know why.” He grabbed his books and closed the locker door. “Do you think you could come over tonight, I have an idea.”

“Are you crazy?” Amy stood outside his new bedroom, the thing was tiny and barely had room for his twin bed let alone two people to hang out. “He’ll kill you.”

Charley stuffed his emergency holy water in his pocket. “I’m hoping curiosity will win. He looked really confused when he saw me Amy. Trust me. Just, stay close, and if I call you, come get me. Please.” The ‘don’t tell my mom what we’re doing’ wasn’t stated but it was certainly implied.

Amy looked down, her holy water was in her purse. She took a deep breath and looked Charley in the eye, “If he turns you, I’ll stake you myself. And then, I’ll kick your ass.” Charley didn’t doubt it.

The neighborhood was the same, maybe a little quieter. Charley walked down his old sidewalk, the construction crew had removed most of the rubble from the old house and looked like they were plotting ideas for the new one. The suburbs being what they were, Charley doubted that it would be much different than the old house.

Jerry’s didn’t look any different. Other than the fact he didn’t have a truck in the driveway, he did have a jeep. Looked blue in the low light of the street lamp. Where did Jerry buy vehicles at night? Charley was fairly certain there weren’t any car lots open at night, but then again, he could have been wrong on that one. Or, Jerry could just kill people and take their vehicles.

With the vehicle in the driveway that meant Jerry was most likely home. Charley took a few deep breaths before knocking on the door. This was either going to work or he’d be dead.

When the door opened Jerry looked even more confused than he did the night before. “What?” He asked, sounding far calmer than he should have.

Charley squared his shoulders, trying to feel more confident than he actually did. “You didn’t know how I was alive.” Jerry didn’t say anything but stayed where he was. “Well, do you want to know?”

Jerry looked back inside for a second like he was listening to something and he grinned. “Sure.” He stepped back. “Come in.”

O.K., Charley didn’t completely think this part through. Once he was inside Jerry could kill him and he wouldn’t be able to let Amy know anything. But… “I’ll stay out here.”

“Why?” The vampire looked confused, again.

Charley looked past Jerry, he couldn’t see anything in the dark of the home, except the smallest light from the TV. “How do I know you won’t kill me. Out here…well, there’s not a lot of people, but I have a better chance, don’t I?” He stepped back, “We can talk out here.” He needed to keep his ground, if this was going to work he had to have Jerry on his terms, not the other way around.

Jerry paused and looked back inside before he gave a small snarl. “What makes you think I won’t kill you right here?” He stepped forward and closed the door behind him.

Charley took another small step back, “Because you’re confused about how I got away. I take it that isn’t something that happens very often.”

Jerry leaned against his truck, listening to the teenager. Charley had guts, he’d give him that. “So that rock didn’t fall on you, you just pushed it?” Jerry couldn’t believe this.

Charley nodded, taking a sip of the Coca-Cola Jerry handed him from a cooler in the back of the Jeep. Charley wasn’t going to ask why he had coke in the back, or what the cooler was normally for. Who could resist an ice-cold coke? “Yep. I thought you were going to grab it, and kill me. I just wanted to buy my mom and Amy enough time for my mom to hotwire your truck.”

Jerry paused mid-sip of his beer. “Jane can hotwire?”

“Yeah, she said it was something from her college years.” Charley shrugged, “She never really told me details of why she learned or how.”

“I’ll have to remember that…” He gave Charley a once over, “For future reference.”

He looked down at his feet, Jerry really didn’t seem to care about anything just now. “You know, people know there are other people disappearing and dying.” He looked over at Charley like he was stupid. “What I mean is, it seems like you have to leave soon.”

Jerry laughed. “Trying to make me leave?” Well, that went over his head, “I know some people talk, they always have.” Jerry took a long drink. “They talk and they talk, no one really believes them and they still talk. Sometimes, they try to kill me. Try.”

“And sometimes you TRY to kill them, sometimes they get away.” Charley was pushing his luck, he’d already texted Amy to let her know he was outside and to stay close.

“Yeah,” Jerry nodded, “Sometimes. And sometimes they come back.” For what reason Jerry couldn’t place.

“They are rebuilding our house.”

“I know, they asked me about the fire.”

Charley had to hear this, “What did you tell them?”

Jerry said, “A crazed drunk decided to rob your family, thought lighting the gas line would scare you all out. Of course, I only saw him as he was trying to get away on your dirt bike, he wrecked it just down the road.”

About where the bike fell off the minivan. “They believed that?”

“They never asked anything else.” So that was a yes. “Also, I think you are getting a miniature upgrade. Since you are staying in this neighborhood I heard one of them say that they were going to add in a finished basement for the trouble.”

That was nice, but irrelevant. “What I’m getting to is that we are going to be neighbors again.” He looked Jerry in the eyes, “Can we trust you?”

Trust was being used liberally here. Charley didn’t trust Jerry in many ways. But, the vampire seemed loathe to actually kill him, maybe it was because he tricked him, maybe something else, whatever, Charley was taking full advantage of the point. “I’ll keep my distance…if you keep yours.” Jerry motioned to the old rubble pile. “This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t broken in my home.”

“You had Doris.” Charley choked a little, remembering what happened to his neighbor.

“She was food.” Jerry continued before Charley could protest, “I don’t normally hunt that close.” He shrugged, “I just couldn’t resist.” He licked his lips, “She was nice.”

Charley stood there, he couldn’t take the bait. He knew Jerry was trying to get him riled up, it was working.

“Ed figured you’d come back.”

Charley didn’t hear him right, he couldn’t have. “What did you say?”

“I said, Ed figured you’d come back. Last night, when I went in I told him you were alive.” Jerry finished his beer and started walking over to his house. “I’ll keep my word, Charley. How about you keep yours.”

Charley watched as Jerry went inside and closed the door behind him. No threats, no harm, it was almost like talking to a human and if Charley hadn’t seen what he was capable of first hand he wouldn’t have known. He might be able to do this, maybe.


	3. Chapter 3

About a week later Charley was walking around the new lot. It was completely cleared and the construction crew was laying the foundation. So far that was it, but they’d been informed that the house should be finished in a couple months. They just had to find accommodations until then. The rental worked fine for now, so they were good there.

Charley couldn’t wait to have the house back, he missed his home. It wouldn’t be the same, but it was better than where they were at. Even if it did mean being neighbors to the undead again.

It was close to sunset and against Charley’s better judgment he decided to stick around. Sure, he could have started walking back home but he wasn’t going to rush himself. He heard a door shut and sure enough Jerry was standing on his back porch. A small wave, seriously, did Jerry just wave at him.

Charley gave him a halfhearted wave and remembered a couple questions he had, so he walked over. Might as well ask while he was already there. “Got a second?”

Jerry yawned and stretched his neck back and forth, “Sure. Not doing anything, yet. Just woke up.”

Charley laughed, “I can tell. You look dead.” Not that he was alive, but that was beside the point. “Are you really a contractor?”

Jerry looked mildly surprised at the question. “I used to be. A decade or so ago, did some to make a little money, learn some skills.” He leaned back against the door. “I worked on the strip then, left Vegas and just recently came back.” He huffed, “It’s harder to find night construction than you think. I like to stay up to date on recent machines and techniques. Useful, for personal reasons.”

Charley had seen Jerry’s handiwork in the closets, there was no way that was how his house was built. Terror asides, it was built well, and the hidden door took skill to make. It was still terrifying. “You said something about how we might be getting a finished basement?”

“Yeah,” Jerry gestured to the foundation, “They have a section that’s done. I don’t know the details.” He gave Charley a funny look. “Why the questions?”

The boy shrugged, “Curious.” He looked down and around, trying to find the words for his next question. He cleared his throat, “You said Ed is alive.”

Jerry didn’t say anything for a second, eyeballing Charley. “No, I didn’t. I said he thought you’d come back, alive might be an overstatement.” Jerry continued, “He’s not dead, anymore.”

Charley could feel tears trying to come out, and he didn’t trust himself to talk, not just yet. His friend was alive, kind of. Ed wasn’t dead, in a way. “Can, can I talk to him?” Would he be alright, would Ed try to kill him? What was he thinking?

Jerry stood at the door for a second, seeming to think it over before he opened the door. “Ed!” He didn’t yell, how was he supposed to hear Jerry? Right, if Ed’s hearing was anything like Jerry’s he probably didn’t have to yell.

“Coming!” That was Ed! Footsteps came running over to the door and there he was. He wasn’t wearing glasses, and he was paler than looked healthy, but he was right there. “You!” And he looked pissed!

In less than a second Ed looked like a demon, with razor teeth and black eyes. Jerry grabbed his shirt and held him still. “Now, now. You know better than that!” He practically tossed Ed back in the house, “What did we learn about fighting with the neighbor?”

Ed looked at Jerry. “Don’t, unless you know you can kill them before they do anything stupid.” Ok, maybe talking to Ed wasn’t the best idea in the world.

Charley took a small step back, this wasn’t turning out to be a good idea. “No.” Jerry laughed, “Good point, but no.” He pointed towards Charley, “I’m keeping my word, which includes you. And you…” He looked at Charley, “Better remember that your word extends to Ed, and the rest of my tribe. Got it?!”

There were more of them? Charley just nodded, if he had a problem he’d deal later, right now wasn’t the time to be arguing with Jerry, or his morals. “Right, uh, sounds good.” It didn’t, it sounded horrible, but what choice did he have?

Ed looked human again, but he still looked mad. “You can stay away from me.” Well, at least that meant Ed wasn’t going to kill him, maybe.

Charley gulped, “Sure. I can do that.” He was happy to see Ed, in a way. He figured Jerry had killed him like he did that man in his car, or how Doris had died. Even if he was a vampire, it was good to see him. There wasn’t a way to make up for how he’d treated him though.

“What?!” Peter Vincent stood by his window, he had been looking out at the city but now he was looking at the teen in his living room. “You…you did what?”

“They’re building our house in the same spot. He’s still alive, like you said, I couldn’t stand a chance in an outright fight. I just want to keep my mom safe.”

“By cozying up to a vampire!” Peter couldn’t believe he was hearing this. “You seemed smarter than that.”

“Hey, at least he isn’t trying to kill me, yet.” Charley wasn’t stupid, he wasn’t going to let Jerry in their house, he wasn’t going to tell him anything that would let anything too personal out. He just wanted to avoid getting killed. “He can’t stay in Vegas too much longer, he has a tribe. They can’t…too many deaths and disappearances in the same area.”

“How do you know he has a tribe?” Peter walked over to his bar, he needed a drink for this conversation.

Charley followed, secretly hoping Peter would pour him one too, but he wasn’t going to ask. “I talked with him, remember. I saw Ed.” At Peter’s confused look, he added, “An old friend, I thought he was dead. Well, he is, sort of.” He shook his head, it confused him to think of it. “Anyways, Jerry more or less said that they’ll be leaving at some point. I just want to stay on good terms until then.”

Peter looked at Charley over the rim of his glass. “Saying he doesn’t want to remove any loose ends before leaving.”

He’d thought about that. “He mentioned other humans, people he worked with before, he let them live.” He shrugged, “Who knows? At this point, I know I can’t take him in a fight. Did you know he’s four hundred years old?”

Peter choked on his drink, “What?”

“Last night, after Ed went back inside Jerry talked for a while. Apparently he’s four hundred years old. When he was human he was a fisherman…I never would have guessed that one.”

Peter was mouthing the words four hundred for a second, before he shook his head. “Look, whatever you do, don’t bring him here. Don’t tell him about me. I survived one vampire a long time ago, I don’t want to do it again.” Charley understood that, “And, for fucks sake, be careful. You’re playing with the worst fire possible.”

“I can’t see you wearing a suit.” Charley stood on the front porch of the new rental, talking to Jerry. The vampire found where they live, it wasn’t hard. He’d seen Jane outside a few nights prior and stopped. She ran inside and refused to talk, refused to say anything, but Charley came out. The kid was either brave or stupid, or maybe his mom was braver than she seemed. Either way.

Jerry answered, “I can pull one off, if I need to.” He looked down. “I don’t like them that much. Too many pieces, too much fuss.” He preferred quick, simple and to the point in his regular wardrobe. He laughed, “Would you believe I know a Vegas celebrity?”

Charley had to hear this. “Who?” Probably a showgirl, or maybe a casino owner.

“Peter Vincent.”

Charley coughed, “Who?” He couldn’t have heard right, there was no way he heard right.

“Peter Vincent, the magician.” Jerry cocked his head, “He does a show where he kills vampires, it’s a laugh really.” He shrugged, “I killed his family when he was a kid.” Charley didn’t want to hear this, this…oh, God.

“I knew he was in the closet. It wasn’t hard to find, but…I guess I wasn’t hungry anymore.” Jerry added nonchalantly, “I keep tabs on him, have for years.”

“Why?” Charley added to make sure Jerry didn’t think he knew anything, “I mean, he hasn’t said anything, and if he did it isn’t like anyone would believe him if he said something about when he was eight years old.”

Jerry started to say something but stopped short. He looked at Charley, “I never said the kid was eight years old.”

Oh shit! “I mean, I…he probably…”

Jerry grabbed Charley by the throat, “Shit!”

“How do you know that?” Jerry growled, holding him tight, not tight enough to fully choke but certainly tight enough to keep him from moving around.

“Long story…” A tight squeeze, “Ok, just, please don’t tell him I told you.” Jerry let go, still standing in front of Charley on the off chance the boy got the idea to make a run for the door. “When I found out what you are I went to Peter, pretended to be a reporter for a local paper. Figured he’d know something about vampires. He didn’t talk then, but…” Charley reached in his pocket and pulled out the small emergency vial of holy water, Jerry took a small step back. “He gave me and Amy one of these, after that. Said we couldn’t fight you, you were too strong.” Charley nodded, “And he was right, I don’t want to fight you, I’m not stupid. He thinks I’m crazy for talking to you.”

“He knows about me?” Jerry asked.

“Kind of.” Charley added, “He doesn’t know that you are the vampire that killed his family. I didn’t know until just now.” And Charley wished he didn’t know, he really wished he didn’t know.

Jerry stood there, thinking. “You think I’m going to kill him.” He wasn’t asking. “I won’t. I haven’t yet, and I don’t plan to. I keep tabs because I find his show amusing and because it is interesting to see how one human can change over the years.” He shook his head, “Besides, killing him now would attract far too much attention, although, if I wanted I could make it look like a suicide, but that’s not as fun.”

“What the fuck did you do?!” Charley about threw his phone across the room at the shrieking voice on the other end. “He knows where I live!”

Charley understood Peter’s anger, he understood completely, he’d be mad if he was in Peter’s shoes. “I didn’t tell him. He already knew.”

“How the fuck could he know where I fucking live?” Peter was an inch away from having a heart attack!

“Calm down, please.” Charley understood but that didn’t mean it made it any easier to explain. Peter flopped down on his couch, Charley heard something and he was pretty sure Peter was crying on the other end. “He told me he’s been following you, on and off, over the years. He doesn’t want to kill you, he finds your show amusing.”

A sound on the other end sounded like a laugh, maybe. “A vampire likes my show. Fuck my life.”

“Well, he also said that even if he wanted to kill you he couldn’t, too much attention.” Charley omitted the part about Jerry saying he could make it look like a suicide. What Peter didn’t know couldn’t hurt him, well, ok sometimes it could hurt him, but not in this case.

“I hate you.” Peter sniffed, “Almost 30 years without him.”

“Well, I didn’t tell him anything about you. I swear.” Charley didn’t, “Jerry already knew where you live and your show. He only told me because we were talking about suits and Vegas,”

“Why the hell were you talking about suits?” Peter interrupted.

“I don’t remember, that was just where the conversation went.” Charley almost forgot where he was going with what he was saying, “But, he bragged that he knew a Vegas celebrity. And, well, I ended up admitting I know you, on accident. And, it went from there. I swear, I didn’t tell him anything about you…ok, one thing. I said you collect things about the supernatural, only because he wanted to know how I knew you and he was holding me by the throat.” Charley added that last part because he could hear Peter panicking on the other end of the line.

“That doesn’t help my current situation!” Peter yelled, and all Charley could really say would have been true, it didn’t, not really. “I’m fucked!”

Jerry was rather quiet that night. It had been about a month since the night the house blew up, and for the most part they had gotten along rather well. Hell, Ed was even talking to him again, and truthfully, they were getting along better than they had before everything went to pot. Amy wouldn’t come to his house after dark, dates were at her house, or someplace away from the neighborhood, not that he minded because it just meant they didn’t have to deal with the possibility of having a date crashed by someone else.

Something was bothering Jerry, or he was irritated, truthfully it was hard to differentiate until he completely blew up. “Something on your mind?” Jerry wasn’t going to volunteer, so he’d ask.

The vampire looked over at Charley, debating answering or not. Finally, he said, “You said Peter has a collection of supernatural artifacts.”

Uh, that was unexpected. “Yeah,” He hoped Peter wouldn’t kill him for this, “Weapons, random shit, books…why?”

“Does he have old maps?” Jerry asked.

Charley paused, “I don’t know,” That didn’t seem like something that would interest Jerry. “I mean, I can ask, it wouldn’t be hard. Why?”

“Something I want to find out.” Jerry added, “I recently learnt something about my old home and wanted to see something on a map. I can’t remember the name of the nearby town, but I’d recognize the region. I…Well, it is possible that a newer map wouldn’t have it since it was only a small region, and it was a long time ago since I heard about the town…”

“Yeah, I should be able to see if he does. I’ll let you know.” Charley didn’t think too much of it at that point, and why should he.

“You told him about my collections!” Peter couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You do know that simply possessing this stuff could warrant him killing me!”

“I didn’t tell him much, I promise.” Charley waved over to his books, “He just wants to see an old map, I think he said near Italy or something. I figured looking at a map wouldn’t hurt anything.”

“I don’t have any fucking maps.” Peter huffed, he took a long sip of his Midori. “Although, I do have some books on the Mediterranean, maybe there’s some maps in those.” He shook his head. “I thought you figured he’d be leaving soon.”

“I think he is, but…” Well, Charley couldn’t be certain. “Can I look at the books?”

“This one?” Charley asked, Jerry had him send multiple pictures of maps from books before he said which one he wanted to look at in person. Now, the trick was getting Peter to let him take the book home. “Ok, I’ll see what I can do.” He didn’t want Peter to hear him talking to Jerry, that wouldn’t win any points over.

Now

Charley stood in front of the window at Peter’s penthouse, the sun was just about to set. It looked amazing. Peter said he could borrow the book, no problem. It wasn’t like he was doing anything with them at the moment, he just said not to let the snacker get any blood on them.

Looking out the window it was easy to forget why he was there. The city under the sun looked beautiful, the lights and colors, all the vehicles below. He needed to get going home and take the book with him. He almost forgot that part.

“You’re leaving?” Charley asked, shocked at the immediate change of events.

Jerry looked at the map and back to Charley, “I have to. My sister found something here,” He pointed to a region of the map, “It has to do with my family, don’t know what, she didn’t say. Ed is coming with me, he’s still too young to be left alone, yet.”

Jerry was leaving. “Uh, when, like, do you need help packing?” He didn’t want to sound too excited but at the same time figured he should offer a little help, he didn’t really know why he was offering.

The vampire laughed, “No, we’re good. Probably leave in one or two nights. Thanks for the book, tell Peter I said Hi.” Jerry headed down away from the porch back over to his Jeep. “I might not see you for a while, tell Jane I said bye.”

Charley waved at him, “Uh, bye. Say hi to Ed for me!” Jerry drove off, Charley knew he heard him. Wow! Jerry was leaving! It didn’t feel as nice as he thought it would, if anything it would be described as bittersweet. Charley was really going to miss Ed, they had taken up hanging out a little. Jane refused to let him in the house, so they hung out on the porch. Now, no more.


	4. Chapter 4

2 months later

“Just think, graduation is right around the corner.” Jane rushed around, grabbing miscellaneous for her showing outside their neighborhood. The new house would be finished soon, just finishing touches, but she still had work to do as a realtor. “Are you sure you don’t want to come along?” She asked Charley for about the fourth time.

The teenager, half asleep, said, “No, I want to stay here. Maybe see how dark the back of my eyelids can look.” He’d been up till just before dawn the night before helping Peter organize some stuff in his penthouse, the magician had been close to black out drunk, Charley didn’t have that luxury. He came home, napped maybe a half hour and had been up since then. Sleep beckoned, and he must heed her sweet call.

“Alright. Alright. I know they say teenagers are moody…” Jane joked as she headed out.

He made his way to the living room and flopped on the couch, this nap needed something other than a bed, the couch worked perfect. It took Charley a grand total of maybe ten seconds to be asleep.

He was going to murder whoever was calling his cellphone. Charley sat up, looking around the room. It was only an hour after his mom left, she was going to be gone until about 7pm ish. “Who is it?” He croaked, voice still hoarse from sleep.

“Who do you think?” Jerry chuckled on the other line, obviously finding Charley’s current voice and or lack thereof to be amusing.

“You wouldn’t be laughing if you’d had to help a drunk magician organize his seven tons of crap all night.” Charley took a sip of water to clear his throat. “Ginger threatened to leave him if he didn’t get some stuff organized and cleared up, so we set in. He was still a whiny baby about it.” A voice in the background pulled Charley away from what he was talking about. “What are you doing up, it’s not even seven?” Jerry was keeping odd hours for a vampire.

“Charley, it’s almost sunrise here.” Oh, shit, he forgot Jerry wasn’t even in North America anymore.

“Right, right. Forgot for a second. How’s Ed?” Last time he talked to Jerry, Ed had nearly insulted someone because he didn’t know Greek and on top of that he offended someone else because he apparently flipped them off, or the local equivalent, and didn’t know it. Jerry found all of this highly amusing. Ed, not so much.

“Fine. He’s hunting right now.” And, suddenly Charley didn’t feel like talking much more. “He should be back soon, sunrise will be soon…” Jerry didn’t say anything for a few moments and Charley thought the line might have dropped, it wouldn’t have been the first time it had happened. “I have to go.” Jerry said, “I’ll have Ed text later so you two can talk. Bye.”

“Bye!” Charley barely got to say before Jerry hung up. He needed to work with that vampire on his phone conversation skills. Now, where was he, oh yeah, blessed sleep here he comes, again.

1 month later

Graduation had come and gone. Charley couldn’t believe he was done with high school. Of all the things he was even accepted at a college, and would be starting in the fall. He didn’t know what his major would be yet, maybe business, maybe something else.

His dad had called, but couldn’t make the actual graduation, but that didn’t shock Charley. It was nice to be able to head home after though, as in, the actual house they would be living in now. It had been finished only about a week before the graduation and what few things he had were moved in short time.

Now, he needed to find a small job until he started school in the fall. Peter offered him a small position helping on stage, he couldn’t help too much since Charley didn’t have any experience but it paid rather well and would be something he’d never done before.

1 Week later

“I’ll get it!” Charley yelled, going to answer the door. He didn’t know who would be stopping in that late but hey, he knew weirder people.

Charley stopped when he opened the door, “When did you get back?” Jerry stood outside, and if Charley was correct Ed was sitting in the Jeep.

“Tonight.” Of course. “We’re just passing through but…well, we figured we’d stop by see how things have been.” From anyone else that would have sounded perfectly normal.

“Well, uh, ok.” Charley stepped outside and shut the door, “What you want to talk about?” He walked over to the Jeep, amazing he still had the same one. Where had it been when they were in Greece?

“’Sup?” He grabbed Ed’s hand and instantly regretted it when Ed squeezed and Charley thought he was going to lose a finger or two.

“Not much. How about you Chuckles?” Ed laughed, “I am so glad to be back in America. I need to start learning languages if we are going to be traveling.”

“We’ll be in America for a while Ed. But, you might want to brush up on your French, since I think Canada will be our next stop.”

The younger vampire tossed his head back and whined. “No!” He put his face in his hands and said something that Charley thought sounded like thrilling meow.

“What was that?” He asked, trying not to laugh.

“Kill me now!” Ed yelled. “I hate the cold.” He mumbled.

They only stayed for a few hours, catching up, asking questions. Ed gave Charley a nice congratulation on finishing school, and even though it wasn’t mentioned, Charley could tell Ed was sore about it. He’d always had top grades and wanted to do something amazing when he finished school, now, that was off the books.

A few weeks later Charley was driving home from his job working on the show. It was tiring and he was beginning to wonder if it was worth it. On one hand, he was being paid very well, on the other hand, he felt like he was going nuts. Peter on stage was hilarious though, although, Charley was pretty sure you weren’t supposed to find the vampires funny. After seeing what he had they were downright hilarious.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and Charley groaned, it was probably Ed, again. He’d been texting Charley nonstop since they landed up in Oregon. From what Charley gathered they were going to stay there for a little while before going to Canada. Ed had sent him a picture of a moose, apparently, it had been outside the house they were staying at. Ed had braved the small amount of sun that was left to get the picture, Jerry had called him a ‘blazing fool’ something Charley had laughed about for a good five minutes after hearing Jerry say those words.

He could wait to text Ed back till he got home, he might even call to chat for a while and see how Oregon was treating them. Jerry was still working on setting up the new home to be ‘vampire worthy’ as Ed had joked. Apparently, the house was in a generic suburb in a small city, but Jerry liked the change of pace from the faster larger cities.

“What’d the snacker say now?” Peter asked, sipping his midori. Ginger had gone out for a night with the girls and Peter had invited Charley over, for no other reason other than he was bored and wanted to hang out with someone.

Charley snorted, “Remind me to tell him that’s what you call him, by the way.” He texted something on his phone, “He said Oregon sucks. It’s wet, and when it’s not wet it’s humid and cold. And wet.” Charley laughed, “Can you tell Ed was raised in the desert?” He laughed more at the string of cuss words Ed sent him after he texted Ed about the nickname Peter had for him and Jerry.

“I guess he’ll have to get over the no sun thing at some point.” Peter griped, but Charley could see that he was trying not to smile. Only a few days ago he ended up talking to Ed, mainly because Charley put the phone on speaker while he was finishing up something on the stage. Peter recognized the voice and decided to call the person on the other end of the phone a ‘bloody leech with soggy shoes.’ First of all, the entire crew had looked at him like he had three heads and Ed had yelled so bad he had to take the phone off speaker. He would never let Peter live that one down, and if Ed ever met him he was pretty sure he wouldn’t either.

“Is that Amy?” Jane asked, looking over Charley’s shoulder. He’d been snickering at something, and she could only imagine what his girlfriend was writing.

“No,” Charley said, in between chuckles. “Ed.” He held the phone up to show his mom the picture. It was a rain cloud, with rain, nothing strange there, except in the bottom corner it said 5% chance of rain, and Ed had said “Fuck Oregon!” under it.

Jane rolled her eyes, “They’re still in Oregon I take it.” She asked, “How’s Amy doing?”

Charley shrugged, “Haven’t talked with her too much since I’ve been working. She got a job at a coffee shop, says she loves it there, makes a bundle in tips.” He looked up from his phone, “Speaking of which, I was going to pick her up from work.”

He recently got a vehicle, an old run-down car, but hey it worked. He dropped her off that day and needed to pick her up, they were going out after she got off work.

They showed up, again. Charley looked out his window and saw a Jeep in the driveway next door and didn’t even call Jerry. He walked over and knocked, then he realized it was still 5 o’clock and he might not be up yet, so Charley did the next logical thing, he went right in. The door was unlocked so why not?

It looked, well, it looked like it had been empty for a few months and someone decided to crash for a night or two. There were cobwebs in nearly every corner, a slightly musty smell, and a sheen of dust over almost every surface. Yeah, they just got back. What were they doing in Vegas, Jerry said they were going to Canada after Oregon.

He wasn’t going in the basement, that was asking for trouble, but looking around for a minute couldn’t hurt too much. Alright, it could hurt a lot, last time he was in the house bad things happened. But, Charley couldn’t help himself.

The upstairs looked even more barren than downstairs, only a handful of things left from before when they left the first time. It would seem Jerry left a lot of stuff back in Greece, or maybe Oregon, Charley didn’t know what they took with them the first time or the second. Ed didn’t have many belongings, since all his stuff would have been back home, and his parents probably got rid of a few things since his…untimely disappearance.

Charley sat down to look in a box, it looked like it had old books in it. Nothing fancy, a few westerns he laughed when he saw those, a book of poems from Scotland, and a few guide books from places around the world and…what was that at the bottom?

Charley moved a book at the bottom, there was something sticking out of it. A small painting, a woman who had a strong resemblance to Jerry. “That must be his sister.” Charley only heard Jerry mention her in passing, he never even said her name around him. She was pretty, and also a vampire if the fact that she was still alive was anything to go by. He tucked the picture back in the bottom of the box and returned all the books to their places. There wasn’t much to snoop in since Jerry had been gone for a while.

He left, but he left a small note for Jerry when he got up. Charley left it by the TV, which he doubted there was cable, but Jerry tended to have it on for background noise when he was up. He should see it.

“You are such a sissy.” Charley said, leave it to Ed to whine his way out of Canada.

“It rained nonstop.” Ed huffed, “2, count it, 2 days it didn’t rain.”

Jerry agreed, “It was abnormally rainy this season.” Maybe taking someone from the desert to the rainforest wasn’t such a good idea, not until he got a little more used to different climates. Vampire or no, it wasn’t fun to have such a drastic difference.

“I’d kill myself.” Charley couldn’t imagine that much rain for that long. “I hate it when we get one rainy day. It always happens when you have plans that involve the outside.”

“Never on a day when you need to study or something like that.” Ed added.

Jerry wasn’t saying too much, just sitting in a chair on the porch. He’d come over when he saw the note, Charley just wanted to know why they weren’t heading to Canada. “We’ll go somewhere…a little more temperate. How’s Georgia sound?” It was muggy and rainy, but at least it wasn’t cold and rainy, might be better for Ed.

He winced and looked at Charley, “Kill me. Please.” He made an X on his chest, “I’ll make it easy for you. Because if you don’t, he’s going to kill me with boredom.”

Charley looked over at Jerry, who looked unamused. “Yeah, I don’t see how you’re bored, annoyed and soggy, maybe. But, not bored.” He added, “There had to be something good about Oregon.”

“Leaving.”

Charley heard Jerry huff a laugh at that, “Well, maybe the trees looked cool, or the mountains. How was the food?”

Ed stared at Charley and it took him a second to realize what he said. “Uh, scratch that. I mean…” He looked at Jerry, “Help me out, here.”

“The cities are relatively small, easy to hunt, and a great place to relax and enjoy the scenery.” And back to the hunting part, well, what did he expect.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a while since Charly heard from Ed or Jerry. They’d left for Georgia over twwo weeks ago and neither one had texted or called. Did Ed do something that made Jerry snap? Did a hunter find them? Jerry said Ed played with the sun.

“Charley!”

He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Amy, she’d been telling him about a new coworker at the coffee shop. “Uh, yeah, he sounds nice.” He did, from what Charley heard before he got lost in thought.

Amy took a deep breath. “We need to talk.”

“I’m sorry.” Jane had lost track of how many times she’d said those words over the last week. Charley was a mess.

He worked and worked, came home and crashed, she was pretty sure he wasn’t eating right. If she didn’t have Peter texting her when he got to work she’d think he was doing drugs how skinny he was getting and how much he was sleeping, but no, he was just working and sleeping.

He missed her. Charley had come home that night and didn’t say anything. He told her the next day that Amy broke up with him, he understood, they’d grown apart and she wanted to see someone else. He understood and he knew why she felt that way. He was still hurt and still angry at everything.

So he worked, as much as he physically could. There were only a few weeks till he’d be leaving for college and he needed more money anyway, that’s what he told Jane when she asked why he was working so much and that he needed sleep. And food.

Charley sat on his car’s trunk, watching the stars. It had now been over a month since Jerry or Ed had contacted him. He’d made peace with it, they were either dead or they weren’t coming back and went on their merry undead way.

Peter had said it was for the best, and Charley agreed, out loud. Inside he felt like he was losing his best friend for a second time. He’d lost Ed once because he’d been a jerk but he got a second chance, and they’d become good friends again.

And Jerry wasn’t that bad. Well, when he wasn’t trying to kill you or hunting you in the desert. That’s where Charley was, out in the same area where Jerry had him hide that night. He liked it, sit up on the rocks and look at the stars, or sit on the trunk and think about life.

The good thing about the college Charley picked was that it was close by. On weekends he made his way home. He got to spend time catching up with his mom, do laundry, eat good food and then head back to do it all again the next week.

On his fourth trip coming home he saw a Jeep parked next door. Charley didn’t get home until almost dark when he drove back, normally he’d leave an hour or two after his last class on Friday. He nearly tripped over his own feet running over to the neighbor’s house. He didn’t knock, he didn’t even think about it, but tossed the door open.

Jerry was in the living room…with company. He had a woman pinned against the wall looking almost like he had when he bit Doris when he turned at the door, Charley was pretty sure he just scared the crap out of a vampire and that was hard to do.

He paused and looked at the scene. On one hand she was going to die, that was pretty certain. On the other hand he was thrilled to see Jerry, even if he did look veiny and fangy, and he was starting to feel a little awkward. "Uh, later!" Charley shut the door and ran back home. Jerry could come over when he was, uh, done.

He was grabbing his clothes out of the car when he saw Jerry come out of the house. He looked annoyed or he looked like he was about to laugh, with him it was hard to tell sometimes.

“That was one way to say hello.” Jerry came over, “I wasn’t expecting company.”

“I noticed.” Charley heaved the bag on his shoulder while he grabbed another smaller bag of stuff, “I…I didn’t think about that.”

“I could tell.” He laughed, “What was so important you had to run right in?” Normally Charley knocked or something, but to just swing the door open and fly in, that was odd for him.

Charley had his hands full at the moment, “Uh, could you help me out for one second?” He motioned to the door with his foot.

Jerry grabbed the handle and turned it, and Charley pushed it open with his foot, “Thanks.” He went in and sat his bag down. “I haven’t heard from you guys since you left. I guess I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

“Jane didn’t tell you we were back?” Jerry had his hands on the door frame, looking into the kitchen from outside. He told Charley’s mom a few nights ago when they got back, he knew the boy was off at college.

He shook his head, “No, but…I wasn’t on my phone much the last few days. Been busy.” He found a small part time job on campus, it didn’t pay near as well as the job helping Peter but he couldn’t make the drive back to the city every night either.

Charley looked at Jerry, “Why didn’t you guys call, or text or something? I was beginning to think something happened.” OR that they just didn’t want anything to do with him anymore, they left part way through June and here it was almost October. “You know, a little message saying you were alright or something, nothing major.” Charley was still sore over that.

“Ed broke his phone a few days after we left.” Jerry gave a small sheepish looking smile, “I forgot to replace it.”

“Why would you replace Ed’s phone?” Charley asked.

“I might have been the reason he broke it.” Jerry added, “We were sparring. I forgot to remind him to empty his pockets, it’s easy to forget when you are first training. But, a good habit when you fight a lot.”

“Ed is learning to box?” Charley couldn’t believe that.

Jerry said, “No, fight.” He continued, “As in, methods he could use if a hunter attacked him or he had prey that fought back better than him. True, he’s stronger than most humans, but strength isn’t everything.” It was the main method of hunting, sure, but there was always that one human that could outsmart even the best of them and Ed had to learn to use skill in that case not just brute strength.

Charley nodded, he could understand that. “I still wish you could have let me know something. I really thought something happened.” It had been over three months and not a single word or anything. Ed had pestered him the whole time they’d been in Oregon, and frequent messages back when they were in Greece.

A tiniest hint of a smile appeared on Jerry’s face, but it was gone just as fast. “Didn’t know you cared Charley boy.”

“Oh haha, you know what, fine. Go find a hunter, you get locked up in someone’s closet and see if I care. See if I break in to THEIR place to find YOU, how about that?” Charley joked, he looked around, realizing something, “Where’s mom?” He noticed that her car wasn’t in the driveway either, but he’d been too preoccupied when he first pulled in to notice at first.

Jerry didn’t say anything but looked behind him, also noting the car not there. “Don’t know.” He didn’t tend to keep tabs on the humans in this neighborhood much more anyway.

“Oh, well she’ll see I’m home when she gets here.” It was a little odd for her to be out that late on a Friday, but who knows, she might have a date, been shopping, company outing, Charley didn’t know.

“Yeah…” Charley didn’t know what to say. Jerry stood awkwardly outside the door and Charley was inside getting ready to go to the laundry room, which was not in the kitchen. “Uh, I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Jerry stepped back, “Later guy.” Charley used to be annoyed by that ‘guy’ that Jerry called him, but now he was fine with it. Heck, after not hearing anything from him for about three months he’d be fine if Jerry called him bastard or worse, as long as it meant he was talking. Charley was going to kill Ed the second he saw him.

“That’s awesome!” Charley yelled, while also folding his laundry. “When do you start?”

Jane walked in the laundry room, holding her paperwork. “In two weeks, giving my current company due notice.” She grinned, “They sell the best houses in Vegas.” Meaning, Jane would be making more in commissions.

Charley knew his mom was trying to move up in the real estate business but this was amazing. “What they say?” She’d worked for the same company since he was eleven.

“Oh, the usual. Don’t leave, we’ll raise your commission, if you leave we won’t let you come back.” She placed the paperwork down and leaned against the dryer, “And that is fine by me. I need something new.” She paused, “Something that isn’t murderous neighbors.”

“Yeah about that,” Charley placed his now full clothes hamper down, “Why didn’t you message me to let me know Jerry and Ed were back?”

Jane didn’t answer immediately, but finally said, “Charley, you’ve been spending a lot of time with them, when they were here before. I don’t think it’s healthy for you.”

“I didn’t talk to either of them for three months!” Charley said, “Just a quick, hey, they’re not dead, they came back would have been nice.” He wasn’t mad, but he certainly wasn’t happy either.

“Why would they be dead?” Jane asked, aware of the fact that they were already dead, so in a way that question was moot.

Charley walked out of the room, heading to the living room to find his phone, “I don’t know. Hunters, the sun, anything really. I know Ed texted me constantly when they were in Oregon and between him and Jerry I got messages when they were in Greece. I was worried, ok.”

She reached out and ran a hand over Charley’s hair, “I know you were worried, that’s why I think you’re spending too much time with them. They are vampires, remember, Jerry blew our house up.”

Of course he remembered, “I know, mom! I just, I’m friends with Ed again. I already lost him once, and I lost Adam permanently.” He’d thought about that more than he really would ever admit, if he hadn’t been such a jerk to them when he started dating Amy then maybe Adam would still be alive. “I just don’t want to ruin it this time, ok.”

“Yeah, Georgia already had a ton of other bloodsuckers, it didn’t need us.” Ed sat on the hood of the Jeep next to Charley. They’d been catching up for the last hour, general questions about the last few months, death threats were exchanged when Ed mentioned how he broke his phone and Charley told him how he thought, only for a few moments of course, that a hunter might have got them or maybe Ed had somehow got caught in the sunlight. Of course, these thoughts lasted only moments.

“I can’t believe you and Amy broke up.” Ed continued, “It seemed like you two would be together for quite a while.”

He meant they seemed like they were all over each other, and that Charley had been a jerk just so he could be with her, and he’d have been right. “Yeah, I know.” But that didn’t mean Charley would admit it, out loud at least. “We’re still friends, now.” They hadn’t talked for a month or so after the break up but recently she’d messaged him. It was nice to have someone to talk to about Jerry and Ed and not have to skimp details, well, someone other than his mom.

“You’re not going to get any sleep.” Jane stood inside the doorway, watching Charley pack his car to leave again.

He’d been at Jerry’s until just a few minutes ago. Charley said he was watching Jerry and Ed practice fighting, maybe he’d learn something. But, he wasn’t going to get back to college until about 2 am and then he’d have to be up for classes at 9am. He was going to be dead. She already knew he was staying up later than that on his own when he was there during the week, but she had to annoy her son a little, otherwise what was the fun.

“I’ll be fine.” Charley just refrained from rolling his eyes, he knew his mom was messing with him. She’d kill him if she knew that he’d told Ed to visit the college once or twice, to try not to kill any of his classmates, but please stop and say hi once in a while.

They were gone when he came back the next week, no big deal. Jerry had messaged him and said they were heading to California, Ed didn’t argue one bit over that one. When Ed texted him he knew he had a new phone, the first thing was a random picture of a palm tree, lit by street lights and an entire line of ‘fuck this shit!!!” Charley couldn’t figure out what the issue was and when he texted Ed back. Ed said he tried taking a selfie with a palm tree…it took Charley a moment before he realized what happened and he started laughing. Leave it to Ed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final Chapter! Woohoo!

3 weeks later

“I’ll be there when you stop by.” Charley rushed around the dorm, grabbing a few things for the night, he didn’t know what time he’d be home and didn’t want to get locked out by his roommate.

“Hot date?” Cody asked, peaking over the top of his laptop from his bed.

“No,” Charley grabbed his wallet and stuffed it in his pocket, “A friend is stopping by to hang out for a while. I’ll be back late.”

“Cool, cool.” Cody added, “Hey, does this ‘friend’ have food?”

Probably, but not what you’re wanting, “Uh, unlikely.” Charley grabbed the door, “He’s on a liquid diet.”

Cody curled his lip, “Never mind. Have fun.” He went back to whatever it was he was doing on the laptop. He didn’t normally talk too much and all things considered Charley thought of him as the perfect roommate, he’d forget Cody was there and Cody said that he could almost forget Charley was there, win win.

Jerry sat in the booth, looking amused and or out of place, Charley couldn’t decide which fit better. Ed was going to town on a giant Coke, “Uh, taste good?”

Ed stopped for a second before he answered, “I haven’t had a pop in almost a month, yes, it tastes good.” He took another sip and looked across the room, “But I bet she tastes better.” He whispered.

Charley just barely heard and looked where Ed was looking at a woman across the restaurant, he was joking wasn’t he?

Jerry grinned, “I told you we weren’t going to hunt in town.” Ed had said not a big deal, he’d be fine, now he was wishing he’d fed earlier. And Jerry really didn’t want a scene in the middle of the restaurant, “Outside, now.” Jerry stood, and Ed didn’t even argue. Jerry looked down at Charley, “We’ll back right back.”

Charley sat there eating his sandwich, at what point in his life did he quit considering it odd when a vampire said they’d be back? He didn’t know, he did know the food was good and that he wanted to ask how California went.

Ed was acting funny. Charley sat next to Ed on the hood of the Jeep, Jerry had left to do something and they were just there, waiting. He seemed…distant?

“What’s wrong?” Charley wasn’t normally one to pry, but this wasn’t like Ed to sit there and not talk his ears off.

Ed flinched before he turned to Charley, “Your birthday is coming up, isn’t it?”

He laughed, “Yeah, you know my birthday better than I do!” Charley’s 19th birthday was going to be at the end of the week, and he knew Ed knew it. “Why?”

The dark haired teen sat back and looked out, at nothing in particular. “19. That’s pretty good. I’m 17.” He shook his head, “I’m 19, turned 19 three months ago.”

That’s what was bothering him. “Dude, I assure you, you’ll still be my friend, even if I’m old and grey and you’re still small and puny.”

“Not puny.” Ed huffed, he reached up almost like he was going to adjust glasses and then remembered he didn’t need them anymore so he put his hands down. He didn’t do it as much anymore.

Ed shook his head, “That’s not it.” He looked at Charley, “I didn’t get to graduate. I didn’t get to go to college. I can’t get married. I can’t have kids.” He’d always said he was going to have a ‘geek brood’ when he got older, maybe 7 or 8 kids, it had been a bit of a joke but he did want a family and now he couldn’t have that. He sighed, “And besides, we couldn’t be friends that long anyway.”

Charley was confused, hadn’t they been getting along better recently. “Why?” He was pretty sure he made up for how big of a jerk he’d been when he’d been dating Amy.

“Jerry wants to leave again.”

“Ok, you guys leave. Text me when you get there this time,” he joked.

Ed looked at Charley, he wasn’t getting it. “No. We are leaving, for good.” Ed sat up and leaned towards Charley, “Jerry wants to head to South America for a few years, journey through the countries and all that. I have to go with him, I’m too young to be left alone.” He quoted Jerry’s words to him, “And that means, we’ll be gone for years, Charley! Years. Jerry doesn’t think we’ll come back to the states for at least five or ten years!”

Charley sat there, that was unexpected. “Why?” Well, he knew why, but still why? “I mean, why that long? You didn’t stay in Greece that long?”

Ed shrugged, “Don’t know. I know better than to argue about it.” He intended to actually live to enjoy the un-life, Ed wasn’t going to end up dead like most fledglings, he was determined.

Charley didn’t understand why Jerry would pick such an extreme change, “Did he say anything? Like, why South America?” Not that there was anything wrong with that, but they’d stayed locally, ish, for a while, why the drastic change?

“What gives?” Charly confronted Jerry, outside by his Jeep. They’d visited him at the college and now they were leaving for South America! No way.

Jerry gave Charley a ‘what are you talking about?’ look, all while doing something under the hood of the vehicle.

“No, don’t give me that shit.” Charley could read Jerry like a book now, and he wasn’t getting away with this. “Why the hell are you going to South America?”

Jerry laughed, “Who said that?” Charley got more amusing every day.

It wasn’t funny! “Ed! He said you wanted to leave for 5 or ten years!”

The vampire gave a half grin, stepping back from the Jeep. “That’s exactly why I told him that.” He looked at Charley, “I knew he’d tell you, and that, that is the problem. He trusts you, a human. A human that hates vampires.” Jerry waved a hand, vaguely gesturing to the campus, “This, all this, is all a reminder to him of what he’ll never have. He’s ‘living’ through you. And that isn’t good for him, for me, or for you.”

That…That…That was not what Charley expected. “He, Ed was just talking about how he’ll never get to go to college or anything.” Charley couldn’t believe this. “Why so long?”

Jerry closed the hood, finished checking everything he needed to. “Long enough for him to learn to let go, and for you too for that matter.” Jerry tossed his rag in the back of the vehicle. “You’ll drive yourself crazy, I’ll be annoyed and Ed will be miserable seeing the life he could have had. Is that what you want?”

Jerry was being cruel. Charley glared at him, “That’s not true.” Charley wasn’t stupid. “Ed will understand, he has to. I’m human, and living a normal life.” Ok, maybe normal was a stretch given that his best friend was a vampire and his other main friend was a stage magician that was traumatized by vampires. Ok, maybe normal wasn’t in the description at all, but that was besides the point. “I mean…”

“You mean that you want to keep your friend.” Jerry snapped, “You mean that even though you’ve moved on and have a life he’ll never have, you want to take that and rub it in!”

“No!” Charley, yelled, “I want Ed to be happy!” Charley stopped, “I want Ed to be happy.” He said it again, “I want…I want him to live the best life he can, same for me, I guess.”

Jerry snarled, but Charley didn’t even look up to see his face. He understood what he’d said, basically, he knew Jerry was right on a certain level. He knew he was wrong about wanting to have his friend around, that it was best if they split up. “I’ll miss you, too.” He whispered.

Charley flopped against the front of the Jeep, how often had he done that in the last couple years. Years. He’d now known Jerry for almost 2 years, that was hard to believe.

The Jeep moved slightly and Charley knew Jerry was leaning against it next to him, “I know, guy.” He patted Charley’s arm, and the boy felt a prick, Jerry’s claw. “No more late night talk, no more sneaking a beer or two past your mom…”

“No more giving me a heart attack when I am heading back to my dorm.” Jerry had snuck up on him twice since he’d learnt where Charley was living, both times Charley was sure he was dead.

Ed paced back and forth in the living room. Jerry was double checking to make sure that everything he wanted was packed, he didn’t have too much to worry about but what he had meant a lot to him. Ed didn’t have much at all since all of his personal belongings had been given away by his parents after his ‘disappearance’ and what he had now was already packed.

Ed couldn’t believe that he wasn’t going to get to see Charley again, had you asked him that when he got turned he’d been thrilled, now he wanted to scream, throw a fit, hell, he even wanted to cry but none of those would help. He was pretty sure that Jerry would kill him if he acted out like that about a human. A human…

Charley couldn’t believe that this was in fact goodbye. Jerry wasn’t allowing Ed to have a phone this time, at least not for a while, and he wasn’t telling Charley where they were going other than South America, which really didn’t tell him much.

Ed stood next to him, taking a good look at Charley’s house, “You know, it does look a lot like the old one, the trim is different and I think the porch is smaller.”

“It is.”

“But, it’s nice.” Ed looked around, “Some people moved in,” Over at Doris’s old place, a young woman with a couple kids Charley had seen in passing. “Neighborhood looks a little less dead.”

Ed snapped his fingers, “I forgot something in the house, care to help for a second.” He didn’t wait for Charley to answer but walked back in Jerry’s house, the older vampire was down in the basement doing something, probably making sure all ‘evidence’ for anything was properly disposed of.

Charley followed Ed upstairs and into Jerry’s bedroom, now bare of anything save for a few old nails in the wall, some stains on the floor Charley was mentally telling himself was grape juice, and the old closet, which was where Ed was heading. “It’s just in here.”

Sure it was, leave it to Charley’s luck. He sighed and followed Ed, this was one thing about Jerry’s he never learned to like and one thing was seriously never going to miss about this old house. He just hoped whoever moved in after never asked too many questions about the oddly renovated closet, because Charley wasn’t sure how he’d answer that.

Ed opened one of the doors and stepped in, “You know, Jerry made these sound proof, right.”

Charley stuck his head in, wondering where Ed was going with that, and what he had to grab from the room because from what he could see…it was empty.

“Yeah, he said it was better that way, safer…uh Ed, what exactly do you need help with?” Charley didn’t mind spending time Ed, but he’d rather not be in the closets any longer than necessary.

Ed lightly went from one foot to the other, looking around the closet, toeing the trap door that led to the basement. “He never locked me in here.”

Charley had wondered about that, once a long time ago. “That’s good.” Again, he didn’t know what Ed needed help with, but that was good to know his friend hadn’t been locked up in a white cell.

“I woke up in the basement.” That was not so good. Ed turned to Charley, “He’s nice, you know. He treated me better than probably anyone else has.” Ed tapped the trap door lightly with his foot. “I hope he forgives me for this…and I hope you do, too.”

“What…” Charley didn’t get any other words out because Ed leaped on him, knocking him down. “Ed! No!” Charley tried to pry Ed’s hands from him, tried to turn his head the other way, away from the mouth full of sharp teeth, but he wasn’t strong enough.

The pain of the bite wasn’t as bad as Charley figured, then again, the entire body full of adrenaline was probably helping with that at that point. The good news, Charley was pretty sure this meant he wouldn’t have to worry about his final exams coming up…

It was dark, and musty smelling, and there were a couple voices coming from above. His throat was parched, why was he still alive? He needed to get out of there, he needed air, but he wasn’t breathing was he? He needed air, now!!

Charley pushed and dug, tearing at the earth above him until he finally, at last, got his hands above the ground. A hand grabbed his and helped pull him up. Charley groaned, he felt so stiff and so hungry.

Jerry stood in front of him, watching the newborns movements. He’d heard the commotion and ran upstairs, truly thinking that Ed had just killed Charley, not the worst thing in the world, but he’d grown rather fond of the kid himself and would rather him not die, at least not yet.

Ed didn’t want him dead either, apparently. He’d bit Charley, but waited for Jerry, he didn’t want to let Charley be a mindless thrall, but like him, he wanted Charley fully turned…Jerry could do that.

Charley shook his head, loosening the dirt that clung to him. He’d followed Ed upstairs, he was going to help him with something…he was going to kill him! Charley looked around and realized he was in the basement, covered in dirt…and something smelled fantastic.

Charley tried to look around to locate the smell, but Jerry tugged him to look him in the eyes. “Feel better?” The boy hadn’t fought much by the time Jerry got upstairs, he was nearly dead. Jerry finished the job, biting where Ed had and allowing some of his blood into Charley, it wasn’t completely necessary to give a fledge his blood but it helped form the tribal bonds. He also knew that it helped them rest longer, meaning wake a little more aware of their surroundings.

“I think…” Charley’s voice was so hoarse, to be fair, the last time he used it he was screaming at the top of his lungs and then had been buried under the earth for almost a day. Yeah, Jerry wasn’t surprised by that.

“Hungry?” He knew the answer, but he wanted to see just how Charley would react, this was the fun part about when they woke up.

The boy looked up, eyes black and Jerry could see his fangs, a whole mouthful of small sharp teeth, ready to tear flesh and feed, he’d learn how to control those later, a little practice and he’d learn how to have only the teeth he’d absolutely need, or use more depending. “Enjoy.”

He stepped aside, letting Charley cross the basement. He didn’t need to tell the fledgling where the person was or anything else. For Charley’s part, he made it quick, mostly. A mouthful of razor sharp teeth tearing out a throat tends to kill the person very quickly, if not painlessly. By the time he was done his face was covered in gore, but he was happy.

Epilogue

Jane missed him, her little boy. She knew what happened, no one told her, but she knew. The random letters from different countries telling her about the sites, about the different languages, how Ed was trying to find someone to go to a market during the day to buy him a bowler hat, he wanted one so bad.

She knew. She also knew her son was happy. He was dead. But, he was happy. Weirder things had happened…no they hadn’t, this was pretty fucked up, why couldn’t he have just done drugs and partied like most college students?

He blamed himself, a little. Alright, he blamed himself a lot. If he’d just…no, that wouldn’t have helped, no, if he’d…that was no good. Fuck! That little ass hole went and got killed and now he had to live with that on his conscience while he was out killing people! Fuck him! Little shit! He did send a good postcard from Bolivia, it was a llama wearing a hat, got a good laugh from him. Also, why the hell did Ed, that was the little snacker that Jerry had with him, want to buy a bloody bowler hat?


End file.
